State Briefs

Man arrested in Walmart shooting

CONWAY (AP) - Police in Conway say the suspect arrested in the shooting of a woman at a Walmart store on the city's north side was an employee of the store.

Police spokeswoman LaTresha Woodruff told reporters Sunday that Lori Martin of Conway was shot several times shortly after 10 p.m. Saturday and was in critical but stable condition at a Conway hospital. Woodruff said no one else inside the store was injured.

Woodruff said the suspect was a part of the store's maintenance crew and had left the store about 30 minutes before the shooting - then returned to the store and opened fire on the woman.

Woodruff said police have not determined why Martin was apparently targeted.

AFC identifies missing pilot

LITTLE ROCK (AP) - The Arkansas Forestry Commission has identified a pilot who went missing during a wildfire survey in western Arkansas.

Forestry officials said Sunday that 34-year-old Jake Harrell has worked as a pilot for the commission since 2005 and has "flown many times" on the route he traveled Friday. The commission said Harrell also is a North Little Rock Police Department employee.

Authorities were forced to halt the search for Harrell on Sunday due to the winter storm that hit northern Arkansas. The search will resume today as conditions permit.

Forestry officials reported Harrell was last heard by the commission's dispatch at 1:11 p.m. Friday. Harrell had taken off from Oden in a Cessna 210 single-engine plane and was bound for Wickes.

Judge to rule on death-case appeal

LITTLE ROCK (AP) - A federal judge in Little Rock is to decide whether to grant a new hearing to an Oklahoma man sentenced to die for the slaying of an Arkansas family on grounds that he had inadequate representation at trial and during appeals.

Danny Lee was sentenced to die for the 1996 slayings of a Pope County gun dealer, his wife and young daughter. On Friday, U.S. District Judge J. Leon Holmes heard arguments that Lee's trial lawyer should have worked to block introduction of evidence that Lee is a psychopath.

Lee's new attorney, Karl Schwartz, says the test administered to Lee has been discredited and that Lee's earlier appellate lawyers failed to raise the issue.

Lee was convicted with co-defendant Chevie Kehoe, who was sentenced to life in prison.

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State Briefs

Police in Conway say the suspect arrested in the shooting of a woman at a Walmart store on the city's north side was an employee of the store.